Retail News CRM

Author: Mei Ling Tan

Samsung to hit back at Xiaomi with budget phone
Samsung Electronics is gearing up to release a low-cost Tizen-powered smartphone in the USD100 price range, according to local media reports, responding to intensifying competition from Chinese budget smartphone makers shaking up the market.

The phone will be launched in India, the world’s third largest smartphone market, by end-January, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, citing industry sources.

Tizen is Samsung’s homegrown operating system which seeks to lessen its reliance on Google’s Android. While the majority of Samsung’s mobile devices run on an Android platform, the Tizen platform has been used to power some of its wearables, including its first smartwatch products.
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December 27, 2014
Australia’s slow economy puts brakes on online retail
Online retailing has been belted by Australia’s economic woes, with November’s sales figures recording the slowest monthly and annual growth since the series was first compiled.

And some bricks-and-mortar retailers are also doing it tough, with shares in outdoor equipment retailer Kathmandu plunging 20 percent after poor Christmas sales forced the company to issue a profit warning.

According to National Australia Bank, not only are November’s online sales down 0.2 percent on October, they are only 3.9 percent higher year-on-year.
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December 27, 2014
Tesco masterplan? New boss keeps investors and staff guessing

When Phil Clarke was sacked as Tesco’s CEO, senior executives hoped his 0700 strategy meetings would go with him. They did – new boss Dave Lewis starts his at 0630.

Parachuted in from Unilever in September, Lewis soon faced the task of making the shock announcement that a GBP250 million (USD391 million) hole had been found in Tesco’s profits, in an accounting scandal that led to the departure of several senior executives.

Now the CEO – despite having no direct retail experience – is keeping management on a tight rein and personally taking charge of key areas of the business, sources say. And as he conducts a vast review of Tesco’s operations to come up with a strategy to revive its fortunes, he is giving little away – even to insiders.

December 26, 2014
Matahari department store opens its 130th store in Jakarta’s Cyberpark
Matahari Department Store opened its 130th outlet in Cyberpark, North Lippo Karawaci, last week to tap growing demand of consumers in the Tangerang region, the retailer said in a statement.

Matahari currently operates in 62 cities across the archipelago and the Cyberpark outlet would be its sixth in Tangerang.

“With a shopping area of almost 5,000 square metres, we strive to provide consumers with a fun and unique experience while shopping,” the statement read.
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- Hong Kong Retail Rents Remain Sky-High Despite Slowdown
December 26, 2014
Tiffany to improve lustre in emerging Asia
Tiffany & Co., the world’s second largest jewellery retailer by sales aims to improve its lustre in emerging Asia, where demand for gold and gems appears to be insatiable.

While Americans and Japanese remain the high-end brand’s biggest customers, their share of sales has fallen to a combined 62 percent, from over 80 percent a decade ago. Asian shoppers, excluding Japan, now account for 23 percent of Tiffany’s total net sales. The company’s jewellery sales have more than doubled to USD4 billion over the past 15 years.

China, where the Nasdaq-listed firm owns 24 stores and plans to open three a year for the foreseeable future, is the biggest sales generator. But Tiffany is not forsaking Japan.
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December 26, 2014
Consumers in Malaysia grappling with rising cost of living
While most consumers grappled with the escalating cost of living, the Malaysian government’s subsidy rationalisation programme and the impending introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) also took centre stage.

The government’s decision to reduce subsidies, effective 3 September 2013, was generally aimed at strengthening the nation’s economic position and ensuring that subsidies reached the target groups.

In 2014, the government allocated about MYR40.5 billion (USD11.61b) for its various subsidy schemes. Out of that amount, MYR21 billion went towards subsidising RON95 petrol, diesel and cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas.
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December 26, 2014
MPP to build 20 new Hypermart outlets in Indonesia
Matahari Putra Prima, the operator of the supermarket chain Hypermart, is setting aside up to IDR882 billion (USD71 million) to beef up its retail network next year in another sign of confidence for the country’s burgeoning middle class.

Danny Kojongian, a director at Matahari Putra Prima, said that the listed company aims to build 20 new Hypermart outlets and renovate 10 existing outlets next year. The 20 additional outlets will primarily target cities in the eastern region of Indonesia, he added.

Danny said that there are also plans to build up to eight additional stores for grocery market chain Foodmart, as well as a high-end version of the grocery market chain next year, which will be called Foodmart Primo.
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December 26, 2014
Operators call for lower e-commerce taxes in Thailand
Thai e-commerce operators are urging the government to impose lower rates of taxation in order to encourage them to enter the revenue system and pay proper taxes.

Offering lower rates to small and medium-sized enterprises could also encourage them to go online and promote the development of the digital economy, says Somwang Luangphaiboonsri, secretary of the Thai e-Commerce Association.

E-commerce in Thailand is burgeoning and the government’s policy to move towards a digital economy is expected to paint a rosy picture for the sector, he said.
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December 26, 2014
Wumei seals majority stake in B&Q China
Beijing based supermarket chain Wumei Holdings will pay CNY1.4 billion (USD225 million) for a majority stake in home decorating chain B&Q China whose parent Kingfisher failed to spur growth in the home decoration market in the world’s second-largest economy.

The all-cash takeover will be subject to approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce, and is set to complete in the first half of 2015, Kingfisher said in a statement yesterday.

Xu Zhicheng, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities, said Wumei could leverage its overall data management system and dealers’ network within the country to boost B&Q’s performance.
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December 24, 2014
Gucci to check Chinese suppliers after TV exploitation charges
Italian fashion house Gucci said on Monday it would strengthen controls on its suppliers after a television program showed Chinese employees working more than three times their official hours to assemble its handbags.

The head of a Gucci subcontractor told an investigative program broadcast by RAI state television on Sunday that Gucci was aware it irregularly employed Chinese workers.

Aroldo Guidotti of subcontractor Mondo Libero (Free World) said the employees toiled away for as long as 14 hours a day, while they were supposed to work only for four hours, to assemble handbags that he sold to Gucci for EUR24 (USD29).
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December 24, 2014
Christmas shopping: Consumer anxiety falls in time for retail season
Consumers in Australia are less anxious than at any time in the past 18 months amid signs of a robust finale to the Christmas shopping season.

The National Australia Bank’s consumer anxiety index, released on Tuesday, has fallen for a second straight quarter to its lowest mark since mid-2013. It also revealed households have increased spending on non-essentials.

New spending data pointed to solid retail spending growth in December, despite the hit to consumer confidence caused by last week’s siege in Martin Place. Commonwealth Bank figures, released on Tuesday, show the volume of debit and credit card transactions made in stores across Australia in the first three weeks of December was 10.7 percent higher than the same period last year. The total value of transactions was five per cent higher in that period.
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December 24, 2014
Online sites expand in China’s rural areas
Plagued by poor transport and less purchasing power, rural buyers remained mostly untouched by the wave of online shopping that swept across China in recent years. However, the situation is changing as the burgeoning market in villages has shown great potential and intrigued the country’s major e-commerce businesses.

China’s leading e-commerce giants have stepped up expansion of online retail business in rural areas in hopes of tapping the new territory to offset a saturated urban market.

JD.com Inc, a Nasdaq-listed firm, announced they would set up a county-level operating centre in Guangdong Province. The move followed the e-commerce giant’s decision to open a physical shop in a small county in north China’s Hebei Province in November to help farmers purchase home appliances via its online shopping store.
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December 23, 2014
Coles fined USD8m for misconduct
Australian supermarket giant Coles has been ordered to pay AUD10 million (USD8.1m) in penalties for “serious, deliberate and repeated” misconduct towards suppliers that were in some cases in financial trouble.

The Federal Court ruled in favour of a settlement between the retailer and the consumer watchdog, agreed by the parties last week.

Justice Michelle Gordon said the behaviour by Coles was orchestrated and relentless and involved threatening harm to suppliers by unlawfully withholding funds or demanding payments.
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December 23, 2014
Consumers in Malaysia grappling with rising cost of living, GST
While most consumers grappled with the escalating cost of living, the Malaysian government’s subsidy rationalisation programme and the impending introduction of the goods and services tax (GST) also took centre stage.

The government’s decision to reduce subsidies, effective 3 September 2013, was generally aimed at strengthening the nation’s economic position and ensuring that subsidies reached the target groups.

In 2014, the government allocated about MYR40.5 billion (USD11.61b) for its various subsidy schemes. Out of that amount, MYR21 billion went towards subsidising RON95 petrol, diesel and cooking gas or liquefied petroleum gas.
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December 23, 2014
Chinese shopping “agents” cash in on ruble slide
Chinese workers and overseas students in Russia have been snapping up goods at low prices caused by the steep fall in Russian ruble rates before brands can adjust them.

These shopping “agents”, knows as “daigou”, stockpile the products before selling them at a profit to buyers back home.

These shopping agents are not new for Chinese shoppers, who often look abroad to buy luxury items to bypass steep import taxes at home.
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December 23, 2014